For the proper analysis of tumours and defining the appropriate treatment detailed information on a tumour may be needed. First the presence and position of a potential tumour may be identified through medical imaging.
Subsequently a biopsy may be taken to assess whether or not the lesion is benign or malignant through pathology. An exemplary workflow for obtaining a biopsy is depicted in FIG. 1. For positioning the biopsy device (usually a needle with a shaft 100 having a lateral recess 200, and an outer tubular member 500) accurately in the suspicious tissue, the correct location is commonly determined using image guidance such as Ultrasound or X-ray. While imaging may provide coarse guidance of the needle towards the region of interest, it is often challenging to precisely identify the boundaries of small lesions or tumours with the biopsy needle using standard imaging modalities. As a consequence, biopsies are often taken at the wrong location, which increases the risk of false diagnoses.
Finally molecular diagnostic (MDx) analysis of the tissue may be done to determine which molecular mutations and molecular pathway drive the tumour in order to arrive at a proper treatment. In order to provide the correct molecular analysis, also tumour heterogeneity may be assessed to determine whether a single cancerous clone is responsible for the tumourous growth or whether multiple clones are present, so that possibly multiple biological pathways drive tumour growth and rather a combination of drugs should be given.
US 2012/006 8085 describes a tissue collection device having a cylindrical optically transparent tissue collection tube with two sets of spaced apart micro-pores formed along one side of the optical transparent walls thereof, a micro-occluder that slides about the outer surface of the cylindrical tissue collection tube to selectively occlude the micro-pores, a distal cap for sealing off the open distal tip portion of the tissue collection tube, and a proximal cap for sealing off the open proximal end opening of the tissue collection tube.